In recent years, attention is paid to a market for a small-sized camera module in an application to a digital still camera or a portable telephone having a camera. An image pickup device such as a CCD or a CMOS image sensor which is to be used in a camera module has a sensor performance enhanced with progress in fineness of the semiconductor technology. As one of techniques for enhancing the sensor performance, there is proposed a backside-illumination type CMOS image sensor which improves sensitivity or advanced shading.
In manufacture of the backside-illumination type CMOS image sensor, a photoelectric converting layer and a wiring layer are formed on a semiconductor substrate and a support substrate is then bonded onto the wiring layer, and a back side of the semiconductor substrate is thereafter subjected to etching.